Adolphe Menjou Movies

Tony Hamilton, an American (Adolphe Menjou), is visiting Paris. He has a gambling compulsion, and he bets his friend, Dick (Robert Agnew), that he will marry Charlotte Randolph (Greta Nissen), even though she is already engaged to the Duke de Val (Genaro Spagnoli). He literally sweeps her off her feet at the engagement party and carries her to the altar. During their honeymoon, however, Hamilton promises to spend just ten minutes at the gambling table, which turns into 75 hours, and the disgusted Charlotte walks out on him. They divorce and a year later, Hamilton hears that Charlotte is about to marry the elderly Baron Deliquieres (Edgar Norton). Although he rushes to get to France, he doesn't make it in time to stop the wedding. Still, he follows Charlotte to her new home and hides in her room. She quickly gets rid of the Baron and she and Hamilton talk out their differences. By dawn they have made up, and they decide to reunite. This sophisticated comedy was based on the play by Clare Kummel, which in turn was based on Alfred Savoir's novel Banco. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Ultra suave Adolph Menjou plays an urbane, filthy rich bachelor who finds himself falling for a socialite just as carefree as he. At first he is delighted by her gadabout ways, but after a while her cocquettish ways towards others begin to grate upon him. Deciding he needs a break from shallowness he lets a room in a boarding house for theater people. There he meets a struggling ex-convict. Her prison record causes her to lose her job. Smitten by her beauty and earthiness, the playboy takes her in and tries to help her integrate into his glittering world by telling people that she is his ward. things are finally looking up when a crooked detective appears and tries to blackmail her. Fortunately, her millionaire hero isn't about to let her life be destroyed again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A very young Norma Shearer and a fine supporting cast that includes Adolphe Menjou and Mae Busch all suffered from a hackneyed screenplay in this silent society melodrama from Metro-Goldwyn, the forerunner of MGM. Shearer plays Grace Durland, a debutante forced to leave college when her father (George Fawcett) goes bankrupt. Reduced to working for a living, Grace falls in love with married Ward Trenton (James Kirkwood), whose disagreeable wife (Winifred Bryson) refuses to grant him a divorce. But when Ward sustains severe injuries in a car accident and may not be able to work again, Mrs. Trenton promptly begins divorce proceedings. Happily, Ward makes a full recovery and proposes to Grace. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

With a racy title and a South Seas backdrop, producer Thomas Ince put together a solid box-office picture, even if it wasn't exactly a great film. Paul Mayne (Percy Marmont) is a missionary sent to a South Seas island. He doesn't have a lot of luck converting the natives, except for Rosie (Laska Winter), who converts primarily because she is infatuated with him. One day, natives rescue Helen Canfield (Leatrice Joy), who has jumped off the yacht owned by her husband, Bob (Adolphe Menjou). Helen has grown sick of Bob's drunken, womanizing ways and attempted suicide. When she meets the decidedly more chaste Mayne, they fall in love. Rosie becomes jealous and makes sure that Bob is able to locate his lost wife. Because Helen was pregnant when she was rescued and is now a mother, Mayne convinces her to return to Bob. The Canfields' yacht washes ashore during a storm and Mayne tries to rescue them. The couple lands on a reef, and Canfield, who is seriously injured, realizes that he's a cad and that Helen and Mayne really love each other. He allows himself to be washed out to sea so that his wife can be happy with Mayne. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

First National dressed up this routine society melodrama with a good cast and a decently written story line. Harrison Bates (Tully Marshall) and his wife (Mary Carr) are leaders in society. Their daughter, Eleanor (Claire Windsor), agrees to hold off marriage until her sweetheart, Allan Penfield (Robert Ellis), has made a success of himself. But then, Mr. Bates reveals that his money is gone, and he is in debt to the social-climbing Joseph Hudley (Adolphe Menjou). Eleanor agrees to wed wealthy Cabot Stanton (John Patrick) to save her father, but Stanton dies in a car wreck. When Hudley learns of the situation, he suggests that he try to win Eleanor's love himself. He accompanies the Bateses to Europe, where Eleanor finds that Penfield has become a drunken bum. She decides to marry Hundley, and, upon her return to the States, makes preparations for the wedding. But then Penfield -- who is trying to straighten himself out -- returns and Eleanor realizes she has always loved him. She takes poison in a moment of desperation, but Penfield saves her. Hudley, realizing the great love shared by the couple, willingly bows out. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Therese Duverne (Viola Dana) is bored with her even-tempered husband, Edmond (Adolphe Menjou). Isabelle Fevre (Gale Henry) suggests that Edmond go to the bicycle races and stay out all night. Then she takes Therese there and introduces her to manly Petit Mathieu, one of the racers (Maurice B. Flynn). Since he has just quarreled with his sweetheart, Lea (Jetta Goudal), he is glad to have Therese's attention and offers to run away with her after he wins the six-day race. Lea, meanwhile, is spending her time with Edmond. Therese eventually decides she doesn't care for brutes like Mathieu, and Edmond gains a temper and wins his wife back. Lea and Mathieu are reunited, while Isabelle goes back to helping her own alcoholic sweetheart, Igor (Raymond Griffith), break into the movies. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Charles Chaplin's first, long-awaited, independent production for United Artists begins with an only partially true caveat from its creator: "To The Public -- In order to avoid any misunderstanding, I wish to announce that I do not appear in this picture. It is the first serious drama written and directed by myself. Charles Chaplin," -- Chaplin does appear in a walk-on as a train-station porter. It is indeed a serious drama but it is much more than that. It is a film that set new standards in silent dramatic acting and directing. It influenced other filmmakers so deeply that many of its innovations seem outdated only because of their constant imitation in films by others. It is a study in the psychology of the vagaries of love.

Marie St. Clair (Edna Purviance), a simple girl living in a small French town, plans to elope with her lover, artist Jean Millet (Carl Miller), even though her suspicious stepfather attempts to stop her. Jean brings her to his home, but they are also scorned by his father. Jean and Marie resolve to leave for Paris that night. They go to the railroad station, where Jean leaves Marie with money for tickets, while he returns home to pack. A final parting with his parents brings on a fatal stroke to his father, and when Marie calls to find out why he's late, Jean tells her that he must stay. Taking this as a rejection, Marie boards the train by herself.

A year later in Paris, Marie is a kept woman, and her keeper is Pierre Revel (Adolphe Menjou), the richest bachelor in town and one of the slimiest. When a magazine article announces Pierre's engagement to an equally wealthy woman, Marie tries to react coolly, but her body language shows she is clearly upset. Later, Marie confronts him about the engagement and is told that it will make no difference in their relationship, that "we can go on just the same," but Marie refuses to go out with Pierre. Later, she is invited to a wild party in the bohemian Latin Quarter, and she gets the address wrong, accidentally arriving at the studio where Jean and his mother now live. The two are glad to see each other, but the passage of time has made them formal and they conceal their real emotions. Observing their penurious condition, Marie hires Jean to paint her portrait.

As the days pass and the portrait nears completion, Jean again falls in love with Marie, but when he professes his love, Marie is noncommittal. She confronts Pierre with her desire for marriage and children, and he chides her, pointing to her pearl necklace as evidence of her happiness. Pierre in turn confronts her about the artist and she admits that she loves and will marry him, news that he takes coolly and dubiously, telling her that he'll see her for dinner the next evening. In the artists garret, Jean and his mother argue about Marie, and, browbeaten by his disapproving mother, he finally declares that he has reconsidered his proposal. He is overheard by Marie, and she coolly confirms that the proposal was a mistake. Later as he sets out to stalk Marie in hopes of re-establishing their relationship, the desperate Jean is seen loading a revolver. At the fancy restaurant where Pierre and Marie dine that night, Jean confronts the couple. ~ Phil Posner, All Movie Guide

The rights to Don Cesar, the novel by Vicente Blasco-Ibanez, were originally purchased by Paramount as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino. When he and the studio had a parting of the ways, the story was rewritten for Pola Negri, with Gypsy dancer Maritana as the lead. This was Negri's third film for Paramount, and it was released around the same time as Rosita, which starred Mary Pickford and had a very similar plot (in addition, Rosita was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who Negri had wanted for her own film). While Rosita has managed to survive the ages, The Spanish Dancer was considered the better film at the time it came out, and no wonder -- Negri was totally believable as the exotic, temperamental dancer, whereas such a role was quite a stretch for the still-girlish-at-30 Pickford. Don Cesar de Bazan (Antonio Moreno) is about to be seized for his debts, but Maritana helps him to escape. When King Philip (Wallace Beery) gets a look at the beautiful dancer, he wants her for himself and sends his soldiers after her. Don Cesar tries to rescue Maritana, but he violates a royal edict and is sentenced to death. The double-dealing Don Salluste (Adolphe Menjou) takes Maritana to Don Cesar for a secret wedding, but after the ceremony, takes her to the king. Don Cesar, meanwhile, is saved from execution with the help of Lazarillo, a boy he has befriended (Gareth Hughes). Don Cesar winds up in a duel with the king, but the arrival of Queen Isabel (Kathlyn Williams) brings things to a head. Maritana stirs up her jealousy, which so pleases the king that he gives her and Don Cesar his blessings. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

On the whole, John Gilbert's starring vehicles at Fox were not as beneficial to him professionally as his films at MGM. Arabian Love was an exception, but Gilbert was required to emulate another popular star to make the film "click". Essentially a Valentino picture without Valentino, the film casts Gilbert as a young American who, after killing the man who disgraced his sister, joins a band of Arab thieves. Several convenient coincidences later, Gilbert falls in love with the widow Barbara Bedford of the man he has killed. Though Arabian Love proved an enormous step forward in the career John Gilbert, the painfully self-conscious star steered clear of imitations in his later work. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This melodrama, based on the novel Pink Gods and Blue Demons by Cynthia Stockley, wasted the talents of James Kirkwood, Anna Q. Nilsson, Raymond Hatton, and especially Bebe Daniels, whose forte was comedy, not drama. Lorraine Temple (Daniels) lusts after diamonds, so while her husband, Colonel Pat Temple (George Cowl), is away, she goes after John Quelch (James Kirkwood), who owns a diamond mine. Quelch is a brutal boss who refuses to tolerate theft -- if any of his employees try to steal his diamonds by swallowing them, he has a doctor remove them surgically. Quelch's fiancee, Lady Margo Cork (Nilsson), can't tolerate his hateful acts, so he turns his attention to Lorraine. He courts her in his underground palace, but Jim Wingate (Hatton), a foreman who has undergone Quelch's cruel operation, vindictively dynamites it. The greedy Lorraine dies from injuries she receives in the explosion. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Western ace Buck Jones had one of his best early roles in this well-mounted silent action melodrama directed by Bernard J. Durning. Jones played Stanley Carson, a cowboy who, while visiting the Deep South, gets in trouble with a gang of crooked gamblers led by Carl Baldwin (Adolphe Menjou in a rare Western role) and the brother (James Mason) of his girlfriend. When the gamblers abduct Virginia (Eileen Percy), Carson takes up the pursuit by boat, train, mail truck, and racecar. The girl and her kidnappers are holed up in a swank hotel which catches on fire. The irrepressible Carson not only manages to rescue Virginia but an entire family trapped by the flames. The Fast Mail was based on an unpublished play by Lincoln J. Carter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Joseph Schenck pulled out all the stops in this costume drama starring his wife, Norma Talmadge -- it was adapted from Honore de Balzac's novel, La Duchess de Langeais by Frances Marion, and no expense was spared to bring the Napoleonic era to life. When the Duc de Langeais (Adolphe Menjou) makes a bet with the Count de Marsay (Irving Cummings) on whether his wife, the Duchess (Talmadge) would accept the attentions of any other man, she angrily leaves him. The Duc, who is a solider, goes off to the front, and the lonely Duchess proceeds to cut a swath through all the available men. Ultimately she meets General de Montriveau (Conway Tearle), and when she toys with his affections, he kidnaps her. He is about to brand her for her fickle behavior, but can't bring himself to do it. Instead, he retreats from her and refuses to respond to her letters. The despondent Duchess decides to enter a convent. But before she can take her final vows, the general learns of her whereabouts and comes for her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Although Shirley Mason was the star of this feature, she's upstaged by character actor Wilson Hummell, who has a dual role. Queenie (Mason) works as a slavey in a girls' school and wishes for the day when her wealthy aunt, Pansy Pooley (Aggie Herring), will call for her. The day comes, but when Queenie arrives at the mansion she discovers that Pansy is not the owner, but the housekeeper. The real owner, Simon Pepper (Hummell), is a miserly curmudgeon who has been a recluse since the death of his young wife 30 years before. Queenie manages to warm Pepper's heart, along with finding romance with Vivian Van Winkle (George O'Hara), the poetic son of a wealthy manufacturer. One day Pepper mysteriously vanishes and his valet, Abner Quigley, who's a dead ringer for the old man (also Hummell), decides to take his place. He marries Pansy and they enter society. Quigley is about to force Queenie to marry Count Michael (Adolphe Menjou) when the real Pepper, who has been on a voyage, returns. Vivian rounds up both Queenie and the minister and the young couple wed. Quigley and Pansy are once again reduced to servant status. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide